The Blood Countess review – Isabelle Huppert reigns supreme in a surreal vampire fantasia

Vienna turns into a playground of camp, cruelty and aristocratic disdain in a blackly comic take on the Báthory legend – with Huppert gloriously suited to the title role From the dark heart of central Europe comes a midnight-movie romp through the moonlit urban glades of Euro-goth and camp from German director Ulrike Ottinger. As for the star … well, it’s the part she was born to play. Isabelle Huppert is Countess Elizabeth Báthory, 16th-century Hungarian noblewoman and serial killer, legendary for having the blood of hundreds of young girls on her hands and indeed her body, in an attempt to attain eternal youth. The “blood countess” has been variously played in the past by Ingrid Pitt, Delphine Seyrig, Paloma Picasso, Julie Delpy and many more, but surely none were as qualified as Huppert who importantly does not modify her habitual hauteur one iota for the role. Her natural aristocratic mien and cool hint of elegant contempt were never so well matched with a part. She gives us the ...

‘Uncomfortable truths’: controversial film challenges authorship of famous photo

The Stringer, which premiered at Sundance, alleges that an incorrect credit was given for iconic ‘Napalm Girl’ picture

A controversial new documentary that premiered at the Sundance film festival on Saturday night disputes the authorship of one of the most famous press photographs ever taken, challenging 50-plus years of accepted history.

In The Stringer, directed by Bao Nguyen, a group of journalists and investigators claim that the photograph colloquially known as Napalm Girl – an indelible image of American war in Vietnam that galvanized the anti-war movement in the US – was not taken by Nick Ut, the Associated Press staff photographer long ascribed credit by the news group.

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